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Contact Information
Do you have any questions or suggested resources to add to this Library? If so, please contact NRPA’s Evaluation Department at NRPAEval@nrpa.org.
Social Vulnerability Index
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention & Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Social vulnerability refers to factors that can weaken how a community responds to a disaster, such as poverty, lack of transportation access, and crowded housing. Using U.S. Census data, the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) identifies and maps the social vulnerability of counties and census tracts, which can help agencies improve their preparation and response to emergency events.
County Explorer
National Association of Counties
The National Association of Counties provides an interactive mapping tool that visualizes a variety of county-level information on topics such as demographics, the economy, education, healthcare and public safety. It provides county profiles that summarize key topical datapoints. Comparisons between counties also are available.
National Equity Atlas
National Equity Atlas
The National Equity Atlas provides data on demographic changes; access to economic, educational, social and health resources; and the economic benefits of equity within a community. Data is available for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 430 large counties. This data can help drive policy making and investment in equitable and inclusive growth. The Racial Equity Index is a summary score of how successfully communities are addressing equity as compared to peer communities (i.e., city to city, state to state, region to region). By comparing scores on such indicators as median wage, poverty, disconnected youth, education level, air pollution, and rent burden, communities can identify priority areas for closing racial equity gaps.
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, with support provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps provides county-level data on health, social and economic factors such as unemployment, access to healthy food, air and water quality, income, smoking and high school graduation rates. County snapshots allow for comparisons between counties and the identification of trends. The data can be used to assess and plan for equitable community services.
Child Opportunity Index
diversitydatakids.org
The Child Opportunity Index measures, maps, and compares neighborhood features that impact healthy child development across three domains: education; health and environment; and social and economic. Indicators measured include walkability, access to healthy food and green space, air quality and heat exposure. The data is available for all 72,000 neighborhoods or census tracts in all 50 states and in Washington, D.C., and it can be used to inform youth development resource allocation, policy and advocacy, research, and community engagement efforts.
Map Rooms
Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES)
The Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES) provides interactive mapping tools with 25,000 data layers available. Broad data categories that could be included in a user-generated map are civic/social, economic, education, environment, and health indicators. Once finalized, the map can be exported and shared. These mapping tools could be helpful to spatially explore key topics of interest through an intuitive mapping program.
Municipal Equality Index
Human Rights Campaign Foundation
The Municipal Equality Index measures how inclusive the laws, policies and services of municipalities are for LGBTQ+ community members. Small, medium and large cities are rated on non-discrimination laws, employment policies, municipal programs, law enforcement and leadership on LGBTQ+ equality. This data can inform the design of more equitable policies and practices.
Community Crime Map
LexisNexis Risk Solutions
The Community Crime Map visually displays crime activity in local communities. This map empowers the community members to analyze and interpret crime activity in their local areas. It can be a helpful tool for planning purposes to target interventions and programming towards areas where reducing criminal incidents is most needed.
National Opioid Misuse Community Assessment Tool and Prosperity Index
NORC at the University of Chicago
The National Opioid Misuse Community Assessment Tool is an interactive tool that overlays county-level drug overdose mortality rates with data on sociodemographic and economic factors such as unemployment, education, poverty and broadband access. The tool’s prosperity index measures economic risk, economic resilience, social risk and social resilience to determine how vulnerable a county is to a public health crisis, which can support response planning.
Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account
Outdoor Industry Association
The Bureau of Economic Analysis provides data on the impact of outdoor recreation on national- and state-level economies. The Outdoor Industry summarizes this data in an interactive map. This data includes sales or receipts generated by outdoor recreation activities and the impact of outdoor goods/services towards Gross Domestic Product. This data can be useful for advocating about the economic impact of outdoor recreation and the ways the industry supports jobs and wages.
Aggregated National Homeless Education Data
National Center for Homeless Education
The National Center for Homeless Education summarizes the extent of homelessness among public, school-age children. Data about the number of youth experiencing homelessness and the settings they are predominantly residing in is available at the national and state levels. This data can support policymaking, advocacy and planning aimed at reducing the prevalence of homelessness among youth.
Disability Statistics
Cornell University
This site offers access to disability data on a range of topics from various data sources, including the American Community Survey, the Current Population Survey and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Charge data. The data can help with service and program planning to meet specific community needs.
Crime Data Explorer
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Crime Data Explorer is an interactive tool that explores national, state and law enforcement agency-level data on violent and property crime and provides data on hate crimes, arrests, law enforcement use-of-force, and other topics. The data can be useful for developing programs and services that address community safety needs.
Explore Census Data
U.S. Census Bureau
The U.S. Census Bureau is a leading provider of quality data about the people of the United States. Data available include age and sex; education; employment; family and living arrangements; income and poverty; language; population; and housing estimates, race and veterans. This data is available to view and download. Many of the other sources included on this website utilize Census data in their analyses and visualizations.
Health
U.S. Census Bureau
The U.S. Census Bureau provides accurate, detailed and up-to-date statistics relating to health in America. Subtopics included are disability, expenses and investments, fertility, health insurance, HIV/AIDS, and small area health insurance estimates. This site primarily provides access to raw data which requires some skill for conducting follow-up analyses for planning and policy purposes.
Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances
This survey collects data on local government revenues, expenditures, debt and assets for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. One of the local government functions assessed is parks and recreation. Park and recreation professionals could use this data to understand trends in local government revenues and expenditures for park and recreation services, and to compare support for other local government services (e.g., fire protection, policy protection, highways). These data could be valuable for benchmarking, advocacy and planning purposes.
Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll
U.S. Census Bureau
This survey collects data on state and local government employees and their payroll information. Information from all 50 state governments and approximately 90,500 local governments are included in the survey. Park and recreation employee and payroll data is included in the dataset. This information could be valuable to park and recreation professionals looking to benchmark their employee and salary information against other agencies within their state. Analyzing trends in employment and payroll also might be of value.
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) offers national- and state-level survey data on individuals’ health risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services. BRFSS also collects data on emerging health issues such as vaccine shortages. Its data can be used to monitor community trends, identify at-risk populations, and support health-promoting services and policy making.
Community Assessment Tool
SparkMap and the Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES)
The SparkMap Community Assessment Tool allows users to create quick and powerful reports about communities and their characteristics. To generate a report, select a location (state and county) and the data indicators of interest. Users can save, share and print the generated reports. This community assessment tool will be helpful to guide planning efforts by allowing for easy access to key insights on community characteristics.
AirData
Environmental Protection Agency
AirData provides a variety of current and historical air quality data from outdoor monitors across the United States. Visualization tools can be populated detailing trends in air quality and pollutants at the county and city levels. Data is also available for download. This information could be helpful in understanding air quality in specific locations and inform planning for public safety and outdoor recreation planning.
Fire Incidents for States and Counties
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Fire Incidents for States and Counties is a FEMA resource that provides a visual snapshot of fire prevalence, fire types, and causes of residential fires in states and counties across the United States. This information may be useful in planning for natural resource management and public safety purposes.
National Risk Index for Natural Hazards
The National Risk Index is an interactive mapping tool that visualizes areas of the United States most at risk of natural hazards. Data is viewable at the county and Census tract level. In addition to the Risk Index, data on expected annual losses due to natural hazards, social vulnerability (the susceptibility of groups to natural hazards), and community resilience measures (the ability to prepare for, withstand, and recover from natural hazards) are included in the map. This information could be helpful in identifying, preparing for and mitigating risk/loss from natural hazards at all levels of geography.
How’s My Waterway?
Environmental Protection Agency
This tool from the Environmental Protection Agency provides information about the condition of waterways at the community, state and national levels. Overall water quality ratings are provided as well as quality ratings for specific activities such as swimming, drinking and eating fish. This tool may be helpful for maintaining public safety and planning for natural resource management.
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey presents data on the health and nutritional status of adults and children that can inform the design of health-related programs and services. Data is gathered from demographic, socioeconomic, dietary, and health-related interview questions as well as physical examinations.
National Health Interview Survey
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The National Health Interview Survey presents data gathered from in-person household interviews on topics such as physical and mental health status, chronic disease, disability, access to healthcare, insurance coverage, and prescription drug use, which can support the development of community programs and services.
ParkServe
Across the United States, more than 100 million people don't have access to a park within a 10-minute walk of home. The free, publicly accessible ParkServe® mapping platform empowers users to plan and advocate for new local parks to help close the park equity gap. Based on a comprehensive parks database for more than 14,000 cities and towns across the country, ParkServe shows parks, their 10-minute walk service areas, and the neighborhoods that do not have a close-to-home public park. Health, equity and environmental metrics are used to prioritize where new parks are needed first.
ParkScore index
Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore® index provides a comprehensive evaluation of park systems in the 100 most populated cities in the United States. The index aggregates information from public and private organizations supporting parks in each city and evaluates each city park system according to five categories: access, investment, amenities, acreage and equity. Cities are scored by comparing their data in each category to the median across all cities. The primary goal of the index is to help city leaders and residents advocate for needed park resources and provide relevant data to inform local park improvement efforts. This tool could be particularly helpful for planning efforts by larger park and recreation agencies.
PLACES – Local Data for Better Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and CDC Foundation
PLACES is an interactive mapping tool that explores chronic disease-related data across four categories: Health Outcomes, Prevention, Health Risk Behaviors and Health Status. Data is provided at the city, place (incorporated and census designated place), census tract, and ZIP code tabulation area level and can help jurisdictions plan and implement public health interventions.
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)
University of Washington
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation offers tools to measure health status and trends across the United States as well as at the local level, including such topics as life expectancy, mortality, cause of death, diet, alcohol and substance use, diet, environmental exposure, health care spending and the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Homelessness Data
National Alliance to End Homelessness
The National Alliance to End Homelessness provides an interactive tool to explore rates of homelessness on a national, state and region level. Trends in homelessness rates and demographics are available dating back to 2007. This data will help to understand the extent of homelessness in an area as well as the number of available beds dedicated to assisting persons experiencing homelessness. The data can be used for planning, policymaking and advocacy to address homelessness.
Integrated Resource Management Applications (IRMA) Portal
National Park Service
Through IRMA, the National Park Service (NPS) provides access to a variety of NPS-generated information. Statistics are provided detailing historic, current and forecasted park visitor use. Other data includes information about natural and cultural resources in the parks, water quality, biodiversity/species and park management. This information may be useful to understand more about nearby NPS units.
National Survey on Drug Use and Health
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and RTI International
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health provides national- and state-level data on the use and misuse of alcohol, tobacco and drugs in the United States. The data can help communities identify high risk populations and develop programs and services that support prevention and recovery.
National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM)
U.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service NVUM program produces estimates of recreational visits to National Forests and Grasslands. It also generates key information about these visits including what activities visitors were participating in, their visit duration, satisfaction with their experience, amount of money spent, and their demographics. The NVUM results application allows you to explore this data at the national, regional or forest level. This dataset details a variety of recreation-based activities and experiences that could be valuable to park and recreation agencies adjacent to U.S. Forest Service lands.
Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan Library
Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals
The Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals maintains a library of Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plans (SCORP) from all 50 states. These SCORPs provide important information that guide outdoor recreation planning and priorities at the state level. Most reports include valuable data about residents’ outdoor recreation participation behaviors/preferences, outdoor recreation park/amenities inventories, and other state-specific data that might be useful to local park and recreation professionals.
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System provides survey data on health behaviors that contribute to leading causes of death and disability among adolescents including unhealthy diets; reckless and drunk driving; weapons in schools; bullying; alcohol, tobacco and drug use; and risky sexual behavior.